In the past most document sharing was done via email but in recent years' users have seen the benefits derived from sharing documents in online shared containers and sought to have content being synchronized between these containers and their own computers and mobile devices. This market shift has led to a large number of File Sharing, File Synchronization and Collaboration systems designed to make collaboration easier and for files to be synchronized to wherever a user might want to consume them. The fact that there is not one dominant vendor or technology in this space, but a large number of different vendors and different technological platforms has lead to a number of problems when two organizations that use two different solutions wish to communicate or share documents. They end up relying on inferior technology that both organizations happen to have available—not the platforms that they use internally. This introduces inconveniences like lost document versions, version conflicts, vulnerabilities to security and the like. Therefore, there is a need for a computer system and method of operating computer systems that is an agnostic and consolidated technical solution for document storage, sharing and communication that provides productivity gains for users, and control and risk reduction for organizations by permitting such uses across multiple platforms. The problem of multiple document sharing platforms can be considered from four perspectives:
Content Producer: The modern information professional (someone who produces documents for a living) is being faced with an ever increasing number of SaaS (Software as a Service) based (cloud) systems for storing and sharing documents. These systems include onsite or cloud based enterprise collaboration applications, traditional secure document repositories, home grown Intranet sites and an ever increasing number of modern cloud based SaaS file sharing systems. In a professional service context, often the choice of which system to use is not governed by the content producer, but by his client (the content consumer). As a result, users are required to work across many of these systems on a daily basis.
Content Consumer: From the client's (i.e. the content consumer) perspective, the problem is the same. Unless they are able to mandate that all their content producing counterparts use the same system as they do for file sharing and collaboration (which is unlikely) they are faced with the same dilemma. This example is well illustrated by the challenges corporate counsels face when dealing with multiple law firms and multiple stakeholders internal to the organization. Getting everyone to use the same document storage, sharing management and transmission system is often an impossibility. As a result of the administrative burden this imposes, typically users revert to the lowest common denominator—email with attachments.
Information Governance perspective: The situation above is a nightmare for those charged with data loss prevention and ensuring that information access policy is adhered to. For example, an organization might have a policy that no hidden information found inside documents (for example, metadata) should accidently leave the organization. This organization might have taken measures to ensure this level of protection over files being exchanged in email, but has an ever increasing gaping hole when it comes to SaaS based file sharing systems (which due to their simplicity and mass adoption are often the client's choice). Additionally, the organization (either of the content producers or content consumers) might have invested in an Enterprise Content Management system. In this case, the organizational goal will be to ensure that all content is stored in their chosen ECM/DMS system instead of being distributed in an ever increasing number of external systems.
Market perspective: The number of Enterprise File Sharing Systems is increasing rapidly. The market research firm Gartner Group tracked about 170 companies. Dominant incumbent vendors all have offerings competing against new highly funded startuipvendors and there is a plethora of specialist vendors who provide a unique value proposition over and above basic file sharing—product like Workshare's Transact™ are examples of applications that deliver file sharing in a unique way, aligned with the use cases in the markets in which they operate. Different vendors are taking different approaches to compete. Some SaaS vendors have made available their up their proprietary application programming interface protocols (APIs) to position themselves as platforms whereas others have doubled down on their unique proprietary technology to deliver narrow products and services. Prices are being squeezed and as a result, there is a race to the bottom in terms of prices for data storage. There needs to be a way of working across the boundaries around these systems, effortlessly and safely.